For entrepreneurs who are looking for an angel investor to help them with their capitalization needs, one of the most difficult things to do is to actually meet with an angel investor and present his or her business plan. However, there are a number of things that an entrepreneur should bear in mind with regard to angel investors so that he will not have to worry too much about what will happen during the meeting.

Before the meeting

One of the first things that entrepreneurs should bear in mind is that even before an angel investor agrees to meet with him or her, the angel investor probably already has an idea of who he or she is. This is because of the fact that angel investors make it a point to “screen” who they meet with, and, as much as possible, they want to be introduced to entrepreneurs by a trusted friend or relative so that they would have a “reference.” This is because they want to meet with entrepreneurs whom they can have confidence in and trust.

If an angel investor is a family friend or was introduced by a friend or a relative, it would be good to hold a “pre-negotiation meeting” before the big meeting by inviting the investor to gatherings or parties. This is because doing so can allow the entrepreneur and the investor to get to know each other better before the meeting, which can also serve as a good opportunity to make a good first impression.

During the meeting

During the big meeting, an entrepreneur can build on the first impression that he has made by coming to the meeting prepared to effectively present his business concept and to answer any questions that the investor may have. To be able to do so, he or she must prepare a good business plan and bring some very important tools like a calculator, which can help him assess his business needs given the different options he would be presented with during the meeting. In case the investor agrees to invest, it would be a good idea to draw up a letter of intent. However, if the investor is a friend or a close family friend, a simple verbal agreement and a handshake would suffice before the papers are prepared.

To help relieve some of the anxiety that an entrepreneur goes through in looking for an angel investor, there are a number of ways by which he or she can make the meeting with an investor more pleasant. Some of these include holding a “pre-negotiation” meeting and preparing well for the meeting in order to leave a good impression with an investor and increase the chances of signing an investment deal.

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When presenting your business plan to an angel investor you must understand that they will be very interested in your spreadsheets and proformas, but you must also realize that it is typically an entrepreneurial optimistic approach, which causes problems with proformas.

Therefore, you should have dueling spreadsheets; that is to say the spreadsheets, which take your best guess and double the time, double the expenses to compete with your optimistic approach. You should be able to present both of these to your Angel Investor; who chances are is a retired business person with a little bit of financial savvy.

This will show your Angel Investor that you indeed are a rational thinker and concerned about the money as well as the truth. If the Angel Investor cannot trust you your chances of being funded are nil. An angel investor is betting on the jockey not only the horse. As an entrepreneur you must be honest with yourself as well as your financial partner.

They want to make sure you believe in what you are doing and that you also have risked your own capital, time and energies into the new business. Angel investors want you to succeed and often they also like to give their input and if you end up taking their money for your startup, the need to realize that their input needs to be taken seriously.

Angel Investors are typically much better investors for a long-term business plan that Venture Capitalists, although they do not come usually with the incredible network to help you succeed. Venture Capitalists are more interested in themselves and making money on their investment then what you get out of it or the future of the business with you in it. An angel investor is interested in you, the future of the business and the possibility of making a whole lot of money on their investment. Please consider all this when presenting your business plan to an Angel Investor.

Written by Lance Winslow, Article Source

In order to consider investing, angel investors must believe that the company has great potential to achieve a liquidity event, and one that enables them to earn a significant return on their investment. The following factors imply that a company has this potential.

The first criterion is scale or the potential for the company to achieve significant annual revenues. If a company expects to raise venture capital after the angel round, it must have the potential to earn annual revenues of $50 million to $100 million within five years.

Conversely, an angel investor, when no follow-on capital is required, might be willing to invest in a restaurant or website that has the potential to generate hundreds of thousands or a few million dollars as long as a clear path has been laid out regarding how they could get a sizable return on their investment.

The second criteria is barriers to entry. Barriers to entry are those things that make it difficult for another firm to compete against you, such as patents or proprietary technology, a unique location, and long-term customer contracts.

The third criteria is having a strong management team with relevant experience and successes under their belts. The angels must believe in and be comfortable with both the founders and the key operating personnel of the company.

The fourth criteria is that angel investors need to feel confident of your exit strategy, mainly that the chances are good of eventually having another firm purchase you or your firm going public. It is through your exit strategy that these investors profit from their investment in you.

A final criteria, while not necessarily tied to liquidity potential, is that angel investors tend to only invest in local companies. Angel investors often like to invest in companies that are close by so that they can visit them often and participate in Board and other meetings. In fact, according to the Center for Venture Research, 70% of angel investments are made within 50 miles of the investor’s home or office.

Written by Dave Lavinsky Article Source

Angel Investors in Asia

Guide to Angel Investors in Asia

Angel investment in Asia is a significant source of capital raising for businesses. Investments by private high net worth individuals represent a very high proportion of capital raising in Asia especially for early stage investment.

In many respects, it has been a traditional way of doing business in the region. For many centuries, Arab and Chinese traders were financed by wealthly merchants and guilds to take risks in establishing new trade routes and business across all of Asia and the Middle east. These networks of trade and finance were the foundation of business in Asia. Thesedays, it is a matter of very informal networking of friends, relatives and close associates that is a major source of small and medium scale investor funding.

Formal angel investment clubs of the style we see in Europe and the United States are not the norm in Asia. Angel investment clubs and associations are present in only a few countries in Asia. The networking side of business in much less formalised and this actually does create more of a challenge for entrepreneurs to raise capital in Asia. This is especially the case for new types of business which are appearing in Asia where the support network is less established. It is quite common to see entrepreneurs seeking funding travelling to Singapore from places such such as Vietnam, Thailand and from Bahrain, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to Dubai to meet angel investors.

In Dubai, there is the Arab Business Angels Network (ABAN) which is to provide early stage seed funding for businesses to develop in the MiddleEast and North Africa. In Singapore, there is the Business Angels Network SouthEast Asia (BANSEA) Both are highly recommended for those entrepreneurs seeking to raise capital for early stage investments.

If you are seeking funding, then you need to ensure that you are prepared with your investor presentation. Angel investor associations in Asia have demanding criteria for entrepreneurs that require submission of business plans prior to having any opportunity to present in front of potential investors.

As always, professional advice is recommended and there are workshops provided to entrepreneurs in Singapore and Dubai to assist those if making a better investment presentation. If you are seeking to raise capital through angel investor associations then invest the time and resources to meet with angel investors is worth the effort, even if you may not obtain finance the process can certainly improve your business plan.

Angel Investors Real Estate

Funding for Real Estate with Angel Investors

Angel investors are a possible source for financing a real estate deal and there are pros and cons for turning to angels:

Most real estate angel investors are simply joint venture partners. They want to come in and help a person with their financial needs right? Well, yes and no. You see, in most instances (and I say most because there are those that do not fall into the greed category), an angel investors is nothing more than a glorified joint venture partner. With these investors, they will want to monitor your business activities and in some cases, they want control or at the least consulted on major and minor decisions alike. They also will take a share in the profits. Again, in most cases we are not speaking about for a limited number of months or years, but for the entire life of the company!

As stated above, if you must go this route to get the funding you need, by all means, do so. If that is the case, get hooked up with someone that can facilitate a smooth transition and someone that can introduce you to a honest player. You are much better off though, not to use an angel investor. We are constantly assisting individuals that thought they needed an angel investor, only to be taken to sources such as ultra unique sba loans, unsecured lines of business credit and other private lending sources that are geared only to assisting real estate investors. This is a far cry from the traditional real estate angel investors.

To sum everything up, make sure you exhaust every avenue before deciding on giving up a percentage of your deal or business in general.